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I. RONCAGLIONE. TRMN PIPE COUPLING FOR RAILROAD CARS.

APPLICATION PILU) FEB. 9.19l5.

.Ialtmltfd Ang. 8, liIlI.

JOSEPH RONCAGLIONE, E* CARISLE, WEST VIRGENE.

TRIN-PEPE COUPLXNG FOR RALEBJAD-CRS.

Specification of Letters latent.

Patented S, 1916.,

Application tiled February 9, 1915. Serial No. 7,031.

To all 'whom 'it may concern:

Be it lmown that l, lossen Roncacmonn, a citizen ora the United States, residing at Carlisle, in the county oll Fayette and State of l/V est Virginia, have invented certain new and useful 'improvements' in rlrain-llipe Couplings for Railroad-Cars; and l do hereby declare the following to be a ull, clear, and 'enact description of the invention, such as will enable others'slrilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in train pipe couplings for railroad cars, and has for its principal object to provide a device which will automatically connect the train pipes thus throwing the air brake system into and out of operation upon movement of one of the cars in relation to the other.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel formy oi air tight coupler which will edectively hold the air to prevent the saine from leaking od and permittin the brakes ci the system to be set.

ith these and other objects in View, the invention consists in the novel combination and arrangement of parts which Y will be Ylnlly set 'forth in the' following specilication and accompanying drawings, in whichligure 1 is a view of the coupling showing the same partly in section, and Fig. 2 y

is an enlarged Jfragmentary sectional view of the ilange and flared portion.

hieherrinfA new to the drawing by characters ot1 reference, the numeral 1 designates as an entirety', a railroad car of the ordinary construction, while the numeral @designates the adjacent car.v Each of these cars carries the coupling bar 3 having 'formed at its free end the coupling head 4l. The usual train pipe is designated generally 5 and` is carried by each of the cars and this train pipe is provided at each end with a suitable valve 6 for an obvious purpose.

Secured to the valves 6 are the pipe couplers designated generally 7, each of which comprises a U-shaped body, which is formed with the arms 8 and 9 respectively. These arms 8 and 9 are connected by the bightnortion 10 and this bight portion is forme intermediate its ends with the stem 11 which carries the universal connection 11 which is connected to the valves 6. The arms 8 and 9 of the U-shaped body are provided with the inturned flanges 12 which are designed to act as stops for the inner slidable members which will be more ully hereim after described. Slidable each of arms 8 are the slidable members 13 n are provided with longitudinal bores a with the end closures 1a which have fori. therein the apertures 15. fr. suitable coil spring 16 bears against each el the plates lll and is designed to torce the slidable members 1B outwardly. rlhe opposite end of the coil spring bears against the web er spider 17 which is formed interierly oiv the arm 8 and is designed to hold the spring under compression, to limit 'the inward movement thereof. rll`he slidable members 13 hereinbefore referred to are each provided near the end opposite the closure 1li with the ange 18, the outer end ci which is i tapered and inclined as clearly shown in Fig. 2. A suitable gasket or washer 19 is arranged to engage the inclined face of the flange 18 to form an air tight joint, thel use of which will be more fully hereinafter described. suitable washer surrounds each of the slidable members near its closed end and 'forms an air tight joint between 'the slidable member and its respective Slidable in the arms 9 and designed to cooperate with the s'lidable members 13 are suitable sleeves 20, each of which is closed at one end, as at 21 and providedl with the apertures 22 for the free passage oiz air there through. vrlhis closure 2l like the closure lilof the sleeve-13 is designed to 'form an abutment 'for 'the spring 23, the innerend oi which bears against the spider 2&1, and thus holds the spring under compression in such position that the sleeve proiects beyond i the end of the arm 9 of the coupler. The projecting end of the sleeve 20 flares outwardly as at 25and the angle o the ilare conforms to the inclination olf the outer lace of the dange 18. A suitable gasket 26 ts within the flaring portion and cooperates with the gasket on the flange 18 in forming an air tight joint between the co eratin arms of the couple-rs 7. The close end o the sleeve 2O is provided with a suitable packing to form an air tight joint between the arm 9 and itself.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that in use, when it is desired to couple two cars, the same are brought together in the usual manner and in such a way that the ared end of the sleeve 20 acts as a guide so bers and sleeves entirely out of the arms 8 lthat the Hanged end of the slidable member In order to prevent the springs 16 and 23 from forcing their respective slidable memand 9 there is provided a flange or similar stop member 27 which is designed to engage the flange 12 on the res ective arm.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferredi'embodiment of, this invention, it is to be understood v that such changes may be made in the combination and arrangement of parts as will -fall within the spirit and scope of the ap-l pended claims.

What is claimed is l 1. A train pipe coupler of the character described including a hollow U-shaped body,

a sleeve slidable in one arm of said body, a perforated closure plate at the inner end of the sleeve, a spring bearing at one end against the perforated closure plate, a spider within the arm, said spider engaging the free end of the spring limiting the inward movement of the same, said sleeve projecting beyond the end of the arm 4and flared, lugs formed in said arm to limit the outward movement of said sleeve, a slidable member in the adjacent arm, a perforated closure plate formed at the inner end of the slidable member, said slidable member proj jecting beyond the end of the adjacent arm and having a tapered flange adjacent its outer end, a spring bearing at one end against the perforated closure for` forcing the sleeve outwardly, a spider to limit the `inward movement of Said spring, lugs formed in said adjacent arm to limit the outward movement of said slidable member, said flaring portion of the sleeve and the tapering flange of the slidable member adapted to engage a corresponding sleeve and flange on an opposing head 'of an adjacent car.

2. A train pipe coupler of the character described including a hollow U-shaped body, a sleeve slidable in the arm of the body, a

perforated closure plate in the inner end. of

the sleeve, a spring bearing atl one end against and connected to the perforated closure plate, a spider within the arm, said spider connected to the spring for limiting the inward movement of the same, said sleeve having its outer end iiared and provided on its vinterior with a gasket, the

outer end of the sleeve projecting beyond the end of the arm, a slidable member in the adjacent arm, a tapered inclined iiange adjacent the outer end of the slidable member, a perforated closure plate formed' on the inner end ol the slidable member, the said slidable member projecting beyond the end of the adjacent arm, a spring bearing against the perforated closure plate and connected thereto to force the sleeve outwardly, a lspider to limit the inward movement of the same, and means to limit the outward movement o' the'sleeve and slidable member, said ltapered inclined flange pro'-y vided with a gasket, said slidable member with its tapered ange and sleeve with. its flared portion adapted to form an air tight connection between the sleeve and slidable members of an opposing car head.

In testimonywhereof l afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH RONCAGLNE.

Witnesses:

S. J. JASPER, W. G. BUCKEY. l 

